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The Blog for Friday, September 07, 2007

General Martinez Speaks

"Crist wants to protect K-12 education, the medically needy and prisons by cutting higher education and juvenile justice and raiding trust funds, according to budget recommendations released Thursday." "".Crist tips his hand

William March:

The governor has released his recommendations for budget cuts to offset an expected shortfall in state revenue. In a letter to Senate President Ken Pruitt and House Speaker Marco Rubio, Gov. Charlie Crist said he hopes his plan will “facilitate the process for agreement between the Senate and House,” which yesterday called off the special session that was supposed to start on Sept. 18 because of a lack of agreement.

Where's Charlie in the midst of this budget crisis? Why "Crist California bound", "he California Republican Party’s state convention in Indian Wells, near Palm Springs." As Charlie burnishes his national bona fides, there is, according to the Palm Beach Post editors "Paralysis in Tallahassee".

"This Sunday, the nation's Hispanics will have a chance to see Democratic presidential candidates face off in the first-ever national debate in Spanish. Only one thing will be missing: Republican contenders. That's too bad for Republicans and for the GOP."

Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo and just-declared candidate Fred Thompson seem to be vying to see who can come up with the toughest anti-immigration rhetoric. The political calculus: They must appeal to a narrow part of the GOP that opposes comprehensive immigration reforms. In a debate, the candidates would have been grilled by Univision hosts on the topic. Saying anything that could be interpreted as pro-immigration could hurt them in early-primary states like Iowa. Some critics could also object to them debating in Spanish.

It's the sad truth, but it is in Florida's best interest for Gov. Charlie Crist to strike a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to allow Las Vegas-style gambling at tribe casinos.

That's because Mr. Crist's effort, though distasteful, is Florida's best chance to control the spread of gambling.

We remain adamantly opposed to gambling. But in 2004, gambling supporters duped voters into believing a constitutional amendment to allow Las Vegas-style slot machines would limit them to South Florida. Nothing could be further from the truth. Under federal law, sovereign tribes, no matter where their casinos are located, can offer the same types of gambling allowed by the state.

Legislators made matters worse in 2005 when enacting the amendment. They showed horrible judgment by allowing Broward County pari-mutuels to offer what's called Class III slot machines, where gamblers bet against the house rather than bingo-style slots, where players compete for lower stakes.

That mistake opened the door for Florida's Seminole tribe to acquire high-stakes gambling. Now the Department of the Interior could grant the tribe the right to have Vegas-style slots or go even further and allow other high-stakes games, such as roulette and blackjack.

"Florida Sen. Nelson proposed Senate legislation today setting up a system of regional primaries with specified dates, to take effect during the 2012 election cycle. His bill wouldn’t affect this year’s dilemma surrounding Florida’s early primary and the Democratic National Committee’s position that Florida’s primary in effect won’t count. But in a Senate floor speech, Nelson said the current situation is 'Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable.'" "Nelson Proposes Regional Primaries for 2012 Election". See also "Nelson proposes new primary law".

In a unanimous ruling, the high court said Thursday that any plan to use so-called "tax-increment financing" to pay for development projects would have to be approved by voters, instead of just a local governing board. The ruling stems from a fight in Escambia County, where the county wanted to use the financing option to widen a road along Perdido Key.

Such financing works by committing a portion of future property taxes to pay off bonds issued to widen roads, build sidewalks or make other public improvements [including schools].

The court also makes clear it isn't invalidating the use of tax-increment financing or previous projects approved without public votes. It just means future tax-increment projects must be voted on first.

Still, "that's a bombshell," said veteran development lobbyist Wade Hopping, a former Supreme Court justice. "That will certainly cause some consternation."

"A state panel might rule today whether there is evidence that Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty broke ethics laws when he doubled a $100,000 investment in a land deal with a developer and friend who had business before the county. If the Florida Commission on Ethics finds no probable cause to further investigate Crotty's deal with real-estate broker Daryl Carter, it closes a dark chapter in Crotty's long political career. If it opts to probe further, Crotty could face fines if he's found guilty. Last month, Crotty said a state ethics staff prosecutor told him that he would urge the full ethics panel to rule that no probable cause exists. If that plays out, the probe would end." "Crotty could face ethics panel's findings on land deal today".

Jenne Fallout

"It is a coincidence that the Broward County Charter Review Commission has convened in the same year that much discussion has erupted on changing one of the county's most powerful posts from elected to appointed. The discussion, of course, is about the position of sheriff, just vacated by Ken Jenne as part of a federal plea deal involving corruption charges." "Time for overhaul?".

"Scoring well on Florida's high school exit exam does not necessarily mean a student is ready for the demands of work or college, but the state uses its standardized test more effectively than others around the nation, according to an education think tank report released Thursday. Of 23 states with exit exams, only six say the test is used to measure knowledge and skills needed for college while nine cited work readiness as a purpose, according to a report by the Center on Education Policy. Florida is in neither group." "Florida's high school exit exam praised, criticized".

Daniel Ruth yesterday: "Dean and his pinched apparatchiks have punished Florida Democrats after the Republican-controlled Legislature voted to move the state presidential primary to Jan. 29. And thus, because of a Republican initiative, Florida's primary votes won't count in the selection of a Democratic standard-bearer at the party convention next summer in Denver."

Because of Dean's ego trip to hell, millions of Florida voters will be disenfranchised in a state already the envy of Venezuela when it comes to treating ballots with all the attention to detail of the body count in a James Bond movie.

If you didn't know any better, you'd think the DNC had been taken over by Katherine Harris in drag.

But here's the best part.

You know the DNC has become a party of sniveling tattletales more interested in counting strawberries than winning elections when the biggest profile in courage in this mosh pit of political preening is Tampa political consultant Vic DiMaio.

DiMaio, a pleasant, understated, mild-mannered chap who is more likely to be confused with a lost beagle rather than Karl Rove, has sued the DNC, challenging the party's authority to strip Florida of its 210 convention delegates.

For a man who makes his living working for Democrats, suing Big Daddy could have potential negative consequences on a career, so either Vic DiMaio was willing to put principle ahead of pragmatism or he's insane. We'll see. ...

Whatever DiMaio's motivations, taking on the snooty mandarins of his party laid bare the dark underside of the Democrats, which might otherwise be described as the politics of weenies.

After the DNC decision to give Florida a giant electoral wedgie, all the first- and second-tier presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd fell over themselves like paparazzi trying to get a shot of Paris Hilton to sign a pledge promising their campaigns would boycott the state.

So these candidates who love to brag about their vision, their boldness, their bravery, their independence, their Churchillian leadership all buckled at the knees like a death row inmate being

Bill Cotterell: "The Democratic and Republican National Committees propose to punish Florida by taking away delegate votes at their nominating conventions next summer. The Republicans will cut the delegation in half, to 57 delegates, while the Democrats have threatened to void all 210 Florida votes. That's where we see the difference between the GOP and the Democrats."

So who's right? The Republicans, with their glacially impervious confidence that Florida is too important to snub at the national convention? Or the Democrats, with their loud and public sniping at each other?

What's going on now probably won't affect who carries Florida in 14 months.

"Lawmakers have come full circle after devoting more money to high-tech voting machines following the 2000 election debacle in Florida. They now say a return to the paper trails of old is the key to an honest vote, exasperating state election officials." "A return to paper trails of old?".

Testy

"Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti verbally jousted with a state prosecutor while testifying Thursday in the corruption trial of suspended City Commissioner Keith Wasserstrom, a longtime political ally. For about 90 minutes, Giulianti gave tart and testy responses when questioned about her role when the commission voted in 2004 to give an $18 million contract to Schwing-Bioset, a sludge company financially connected to Wasserstrom and the mayor's son. Giulianti, who is not charged with any wrongdoing, was called to the stand by prosecutors to help their case against Wasserstrom." "Hollywood mayor testy as witness in commissioner's corruption trial".

"Corporate Shill" or "Misinformed Crank"?

Robert Moore, a professor of anthropology at Rollins College writes that

a year or so ago this guy named David Horowitz shows up on [the Rollins College] campus and lectures us all on why colleges and universities are too liberal and need to stop being that way.

Now some critics have accused [corporate shill David] Horowitz of being a corporate shill. This is rather harsh. I prefer to think of him as a misinformed crank. At any rate, he is wrong to say that academics are too liberal. In fact, we are just liberal enough.

If we define liberal as "open-minded" or "tolerant of others' ideas," then academics need to be somewhat liberal. We need to be open to ideas we don't agree with -- until those ideas have been proven false. If we were to accept even those ideas that are demonstrably false, then we would be too liberal.

In the past, Crist has considered tough choices before changing his mind and settling on a more suitable option. The hope here is that he can muster another such performance for higher education and develop a more fruitful funding policy for Florida's colleges and universities.

The St. Pete Times editorial board: "After hours of talking and hand-wringing Tuesday, Pinellas County commissioners finally got around to firing someone for the county's egregious behavior in a recent land deal: County Attorney Susan Churuti. Yet they did so reluctantly, and only after several officials, particularly County Commissioner Susan Latvala, were either dismissive of the grand jury's critical report on the purchase of Property Appraiser Jim Smith's land or blamed others for their own dismal failure to do their job." "Rot in Pinellas goes deeper than Churuti".

Brown-Waite Challenger

"Jim King says he has had enough of the way the U.S. Congress neglects national security and the troops who are in the thick of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, the Land O'Lakes Republican has filed to unseat U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite in District 5, which stretches from Pasco to Levy county. It's nothing personal, King says, nor is it a partisan issue. But King, a veteran who served in Afghanistan in 2001, believes Brown-Waite is part of a body that is not doing its job." "Land O'Lakes vet hopes to unseat Brown-Waite". Meanwhile, "Brown-Waite bashes the Bush administration for a "let them eat cake" mentality".

Laff Riot

"Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, on Thursday defended his acceptance of $5,000 for his legal defense fund from an Oviedo businessman hoping for a NASA contract." "Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, on Thursday defended his acceptance of $5,000 for his legal defense fund from an Oviedo businessman hoping for a NASA contract.".